The Breakdown of Consensus: Changing Public Policy. AIR 1998 Annual Forum Paper.

Thomas, Kathleen N.; Perkins, George R.

This study evaluated the hypothesis that the proportion of lower-level students to total students has an effect on the amount of funding that universities receive. Data on public baccalaureate or higher-degree-granting institutions were obtained from the 1994-95 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) survey. Multivariate analysis indicated that the higher the percentage of lower-level students enrolled in an institution, the lower the level of its funding. Based on this analysis, for each 1 percent increase in the number of lower-level students, funding decreased by $401,434. These results are discussed in light of economic retrenchment in public universities in Florida, which have a high percentage of upper-level students as a result of strong articulation agreements with community colleges. Since Florida's universities have a low proportion of lower-level students compared to the average university, their funding level per full-time equivalent (FTE) student should be higher than the average university. In fact, the actual state university system average funding per FTE student was $10,088, in comparison to the predicted amount of $10,869 per FTE student. (Contains 14 references.) (MDM)